The subject of the patent is the production of Christmas tree ornaments composed of several blown objects assembled to form one piece.
Several methods related to assembling glass elements are known.
The heat method involves welding elements preheated to the softening temperature, which is a difficult technique requiring a great deal of labor. It requires high qualifications and a considerable amount of work and leads to great consumption of heat energy, and the resulting assembly is rigid, fragile, and breakable.
The glass elements can also be assembled using glues. But doing so requires elements with large surface areas, and the majority of the glues are subject to the aging process, particularly under the influence of weather.
Glass elements can also be assembled using metal structures in the form of frames. This is the method used to produce stained glass windows, and it is suitable practically only for flat elements.
According to the description of Polish patent no. 120335, a method for assembling glass and/or ceramic elements is known that consists of making construction attachments that are coated or dipped in the molten assembly material, since the temperature of the glass and/or ceramic elements is maintained between 50xc2x0 C. and the fusion temperature of the assembly material in order to have the assembly material solidify subsequently. The attachments of two or more shaped glass and/or ceramic elements are then finally assembled by soldering or welding.
The method in accordance with the invention essentially consists of eliminating the heated operations thanks to execution, at the stage of producing the blown glass objects, in the form of seats having the dimensions and spatial layouts of the defined base bodies of the blown objects on which one freely places the tenons of other elements of appropriate shape, while the seat itself and the tenons, before assembly of the elements, are covered with a quick-setting plastic bonding material.
The method of completing the assemblies consists of making in the base bodies, during the phase of producing the blown glass object, a seat having a profile and a spatial arrangement allowing the tenon for the other elements of the Christmas tree ornament to be freely placed in such a way that it can be placed in accordance with the desired shape and in the appropriate direction, while the surfaces of the assembly seat and tenon are coated with a quick-setting plastic bonding material so they can be assembled afterward and so they can be placed in a mould providing the desired, reproducible shapes of Christmas tree ornaments while the bonding material is setting. Depending on the number of elements assembled in the base body, one or more identical seats can be made in one or more assembled elements, and on other elements there are appropriately formed assembly tenons.